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Consumers enjoy collecting proof they've "been there
and done that"--that's why there's a gift shop at the
top of the Empire State Building and poised cameras capturing
terrified expressions on the last dip of every famous roller
coaster. And with the strong economy putting more vacationers on
the highway, researchers have tallied Americans spending $1.17
billion on souvenirs and novelties in the past year, a 20 percent
increase from the year before. Americans' love for regionally
flavored items, in particular, gives entrepreneurs the chance to
counteract the homogeny of huge corporate retail outlets.

"When people travel, they really want to experience the
regional flavor of particular places," says Pam Danziger,
president and CEO of Unity Marketing in Stevens, Pennsylvania.
"But today, if you go down any superhighway in the country,
it's as though you could be anywhere because the malls and
stores are all the same."

Assuming consumers also eschew this monotony, Danziger sees
great potential for businesses that create gifts offering some
regional flavor. "Small businesses can, in fact, compete very
effectively if they bring that sense of local or historical flavor
[to their businesses]," she says. "Here at the end of the
millennium, it's time for us to look back on our history and
realize there's an awful lot we can learn from tapping into
that historical heritage, and people want to do that when they
travel."